The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Richard Mills, has urged the Nigerian government to prioritise fixing its electricity sector as a central strategy to attract greater foreign direct investment, particularly from American companies.
Mills also whilst commending the various reforms by the Nigerian government said the American government is set to deepen trade ties with the country and Africa, moving from aid to trade.
Speaking during a fireside chat at the Lagos Business School yesterday, Mills noted that unreliable power supply is one of the biggest obstacles discouraging American businesses from deepening their footprint in Nigeria. According to him, resolving the electricity challenge is critical to unlocking Nigeria’s investment potential, especially in the technology sector, which relies heavily on stable energy.
Stating that power distribution and transmission remain major barriers, Mills said, “until Nigeria’s energy infrastructure is significantly improved, it will remain a limiting factor for growth.”
The ambassador stressing the urgency of fixing the power sector said it goes beyond economics as it remains a priority for Nigerians at home and abroad. “When I asked Nigerian-Americans what they would change with a magic wand, the answer was unanimous: fix power,” he said.
Commending the Nigerian government, both at the federal level and at many of the state levels, he said “they listen to us” adding that the American business community including the U.S. Mission “feel that we have seen some significant economic reforms in the last several years that have really improved the macroeconomic possibilities here.
“I know they have been painful for a lot of Nigerians, but I do believe our assessment is they will begin, hopefully, to have these green shoots grow into even more opportunities” he said.
The ambassador noted that American firms are actively engaging with the Nigerian government, providing feedback on reforms needed to improve the ease of doing business. Among the top concerns, he listed inconsistent regulations, opaque policymaking, tax complexity, and weak rule of law. However, he acknowledged some positive strides from the current administration, including macroeconomic adjustments and the creation of a council dedicated to business climate reform.
Meanwhile, he said the US government is working towards increasing its trade ties with Nigeria and other African countries via private sector led investments. According to him, America is moving away from providing aid to countries towards deepening trade ties.
“We are making a shift from aid to trade. We want to engage African nations not as aid recipients, but as capable commercial partners.
“We will continue to invest in development, but we will do so through expanding trade and private investment, because it is the private sector, not assistance, that ultimately drives the final stage of economic growth. By promoting two-way trade and investment, we believe we can drive mutual growth for both our nations. So as the US Ambassador to Nigeria, I’ve been given a key priority for my mandate to increase trade, increase investment, and increase business linkages between our two countries.
“To achieve this goal. Last year, the US Department of Commerce, working together with Nigeria’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, signed a commercial and investment partnership agreement. The CIP is a five-year memorandum of understanding in which we prioritise with the Nigerian government three key pillars: agriculture, the digital economy, and infrastructure. I should point out that Nigeria is only one of five African nations with which the US has signed the CIP agreement. We are officially launching the partnership discussions later this month.”
He explained that the way the CIP works is for both governments have agreed that we will establish working groups in these areas, agriculture, tech, infrastructure, with both us and Nigerian private sector representatives, they will take a hard look at each of these sectors, non tariff, bilateral trade and other regulatory challenges which maybe for too long, have dampened two way, trade and investment.
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